Is it legal to drop misdelivered mail on the ground?

Question

Sometimes I get first class mail addressed to other people's names, at my address. I know I can't legally open it, or deliberately destroy it by putting it in the trash or shredding it. I know I could write "not at this address" on it and put it back into the mail system as outgoing mail.

Can I, while standing in front of my mailbox, simply stop holding it?

It would fall to the ground somewhere near my mailbox. It would not be immediately destroyed, and it would (weather permitting) be right there the next time the mail carrier comes by, and they would have an opportunity to see this wayward piece of mail, and pick it up, and deliver it to the person it is addressed to.

If it happened to rain before the mail carrier came, the mail might be damaged. And if it became windy it might be blown elsewhere; if it did not blow into the path of a mail carrier before it weathered into oblivion it could be destroyed. But it seems unusual to blame me for the actions of the weather on other people's stuff, unless I have some kind of obligation to care for it (and not merely no right to destroy it).

Do I have a positive legal obligation to act to get this mail to the addressee? Or can I decide to stop being involved in the life of this piece of first class mail as soon as I see it is not mine?

Does the answer depend on how long I can expect the mail to survive exposure to the elements, or how likely it is to still be there for the carrier to see the next time they come by?

I am particularly interested in my responsibilities r.e. protecting the mail from the elements or bringing it to the attention of the carrier, rather than just making sure it was available to them when I left it. If I drop it on the ground in a way that I know or ought to know will destroy it, that would be the same as just trashing it, which isn't allowed.

Answer 1

You are obligated to not destroy it or stop it from being delivered

Taking the mail not for you and dropping it to the ground is most likely running afoul of both Obstruction of mails generally and Obstruction of mail service.:

Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

The mail carrier has to pick up the strewn-around letters. That is not planned for, so you retard his passing along his route, making it obstruction.

Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

You are not the recipient and so it has not been delivered to the person to whom it is directed and Mail from the ground will not be picked up for delivery. Further, by not making sure the Post picks it up in non-destroyed fashion and taking it from the authorized depository (Mailbox) to drop it on the ground - which is most certainy not an authorized depository, you are acting in a manner that is designed to obstruct the correspondence.

Further, putting the mail on the ground is wilfully or maliciously defacing it, and illegal:

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

In a more lenient look, you might be just deserting the mail on the ground before the box where you took it from - By picking up the mail you put yourself in charge of the mail and thus have to make sure it is delivered to at least the post office:

Whoever, having taken charge of any mail, voluntarily quits or deserts the same before he has delivered it into the post office at the termination of the route, or to some known mail carrier, messenger, agent, or other employee in the Postal Service authorized to receive the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.